Drive-thru drugs: Heroin allegedly sold in Happy Meals

Allegheny County detectives arrested an employee of a McDonald's in East Liberty on Wednesday when police said she handed undercover officers a Happy Meal box containing 10 stamp bags of heroin.

ShanTia Dennis, 26, of East Pittsburgh is awaiting arraignment in the Allegheny County Jail on charges of possession of an illegal substance, possession with intent to deliver and delivery.

Mike Manko, a spokesman for Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., said an informant alerted authorities that heroin was being sold by a McDonald's employee. Manko said customers looking for heroin would go through the drive-thru and say "I'd like to order a toy."

Customers would pay for the heroin, and an employee would hand them a Happy Meal box.

A manager at the East Liberty location referred inquiries to McDonald's corporate office, which did not return calls.

Manko said the confiscated heroin does not appear to be related to the heroin blamed in the deaths of at least 22 people in Western Pennsylvania, including 15 Allegheny County.

Manko said the McDonald's in East Liberty is owned by the same person who owns the McDonald's along Route 22 in Murrysville, where police arrested a man this year for selling heroin from the restaurant.

Authorities said they are investigating whether the owner knew about the drug dealing at his businesses. He has not been charged.